Hi all, I have a 2007 Honda Fit with ~85k miles. When I got it, the engine was very quiet, and in need of a valve adjustment. The exhaust valves were quite tight, so I went ahead and did an adjustment. I double checked everything and torqued all the nuts, etc. After the adjustment, the engine sounds like this. I'm not sure if this is normal or too tappy, maybe something is loose or I adjusted some valves too loose? What do you guys think?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DMyngN18v5XruuG98

 

I don't think it sounds too bad. But you say it's noisier now than before you did the adjustment?

I'm also curious about your statement: "...the engine was very quiet, and in need of a valve adjustment." Generally the first wouldn't lead to the second. If the engine was quiet why did you think you needed to adjust the valves?

If you're concerned and want to double-check your work, there's no harm in giving it another try. You now have the tools and recent experience. Just make sure you're measuring the clearances correctly.

 

The car had other signs that it needed an adjustment (stumbling, rough idle, etc). After the adjustment, the engine got noisier. I heard that's not weird for these cars, because the exhaust valves tighten and get quiet over time.

 

Hard to tell from an audio clip, but it sounds okay to me. If you adjusted to the loose end of the range, you will get loud(er) but acceptable valve noise. Many think that a loose adjustment is better than adjusting to the tight(er) end of the range.

But I am not an expert. I'm just some guy on the Internet.

 

My car does it too for 60 + Kmiles
In my car it is not the valve train noise; this nosie is made by lower part of the piston slapping the cylinder wall at bottom dead center.
The root cause is the engine design (the big end is shifted 2mm off the crank center to minimize idle vibration) Picked up by mechanical sound probe around middle part of the engine block
the noise is typically present in the warm engine around 50 degrees C at idle and less noticeable at higher temperatures.
The valve train noise is getting louder with acceleration.

 

His valves were on the tighter side which means loosening them up to spec will cause a bit more noise. If they are too tight they will get hot, too hot and bad things start to happen.